Oscars Playback: Revisiting the 2003 ceremony when ‘The Pianist’ pulled off 3 upsets in a cursed show

Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen
·2 min read

Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we cover the 75th Academy Awards in 2003, honoring the films of 2002.

Oscars’ diamond jubilee crowned “Chicago” Best Picture. The Rob Marshall musical took home six trophies total, the most of the night, and was the heavy favorite going in, but the “Chicago” team was probably sweating bullets down to the wire. That’s because “The Pianist” pulled off three huge upsets, winning Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Best Director for Roman Polanski and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ronald Harwood. How close was “The Pianist” to winning Best Picture?

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SEE Experts slugfest: Revisiting the 2002 ceremony when Halle Berry made history at the longest show ever

The biggest loser of the night was Martin Scorsese‘s “Gangs of New York,” which went 0-10. Backed by Harvey Weinstein, the historical epic was also marred by a campaign scandal when an op-ed supporting a Best Director win for Scorsese that was ostensibly penned by “West Side Story” (1961) co-director Robert Wise was revealed to have been written by a publicist on Miramax’s behalf. How much did that affect “Gangs'” chances?

Elsewhere, we discuss Steve Martin‘s jokes that did not age well, Michael Moore‘s fiery speech and more.

Timestamps:
Intro and “Gangs of New York” controversy (0:00)
Our favorite 2002 films (8:49)
Ceremony thoughts (27:19)
Best Picture (37:28)
Best Director (45:48)
Best Actor (54:33)
Best Actress (1:01:59)
Best Supporting Actor (1:09:38)
Best Supporting Actress (1:14:15)
Screenplay awards (1:17:19)
Music categories (1:21:25)
Other categories (1:26:44)

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